CU students volunteer for flood relief

On the first clear weekend following the flood, nearly two hundred CU-Boulder students joined the Volunteer Resource Center for a September Give-a-Day effort, working to clear debris and mud from in and around flood victims’ homes in Boulder.

“Boulder gives so much to CU, and we just want to give back,” said one of the students who joined volunteers last Saturday in North Boulder.

At one home where an elderly couple lived, a group of sophomore girls cleared a walkway for the couple to reach their car.

Another group of students helped homeowner and Christmas tree grower, Chris Brown, shovel sticky mud out of his front yard. Brown and his wife, Elizabeth Black, are both artists who have enjoyed co-owning their business, Your Neighborhood Christmas Tree Farm. Luckily, Brown managed to divert water flows and protect the nursery, but a thick sludge lines the front of their yard and some trees in back, he said, didn’t fare too well.

Many homes like these are just starting the road to recovery, and volunteer coordinators at CU anticipate the demand for help will last weeks, if not months. Organizers at Boulder Flood Relief stress that recovery in towns like Lyons and Jamestown will take even longer.

Several of the students expressed that it’s hard to see all of the devastation throughout the community, but inspiring to see how the CU community has come together.

“It’s great to see what kind of students we have at CU,” said one of the volunteers. “It’s great to see this turnout.”